A board filled with members chosen by President Donald Trump voted “unanimously” to rename the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday.
However, the name change will probably face a legal battle because the law prohibits such changes without Congressional approval, NBC News previously reported. Shortly after the news, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said the move was not possible “in the absence of legislative action.”
Leavitt said the name change was due to the work “Trump has done over the last year in saving the building. Not only from the standpoint of its reconstruction, but also financially, and its reputation.”
She congratulated Trump and also former President John F. Kennedy, “because this will be a truly great team long into the future!”
Trump spoke positively about the move on Thursday.
“This was brought up by one of the very distinguished board members, and they voted on it, and there’s a lot of board members, and they voted unanimously. So I was very honored,” Trump told reporters.
Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the center, told JS in a statement that the change is an acknowledgment of Trump’s ongoing transformations at the center.
“The unanimous vote recognizes that the current Chairman saved the institution from financial ruin and physical destruction. The new Trump-Kennedy Center reflects the unequivocal bipartisan support for America’s cultural center for generations to come,” Daravi said.
However, Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) disputed claims that the vote was unanimous.
“For the record. This was not unanimous. I was muted on the call and not allowed to speak or voice my opposition to this move,” Beatty wrote on social media.
The Kennedy Center first opened in 1971 in Washington, D.C. It serves as a living memorial for former President John F. Kennedy after his assassination years earlier and was supposed to serve as a nonpartisan cultural and performing arts center.
Trump, however, has worked relentlessly to change that, resulting in smaller audiences, financial loss and politicalization, according to The Washington Post. His overhaul has also led to numerous resignations and show cancellations.
Within the past year, Trump has ousted board members, replaced board members with his supporters, become the board chair and attacked shows that he deemed “woke.”
“We didn’t like what they were showing and various other things,” Trump said in February, when he became chair. “We’re going to make sure that it’s good and it’s not going to be ‘woke.’”
Additionally, like his $400 million ballroom project at the White House, he’s also fixated on renovations at the center.
Earlier this month, he hosted the Kennedy Center Honors, which he skipped in his first administration. But this time around, Trump said he had a hand in selecting the 2025 honorees — Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester Stallone, Michael Crawford, George Strait and Kiss — and shot down recommendations of folks he called “wokesters.”
